When I lived in New York I worked as a Maitre d' for several years at the West Point Officers Club at the Military Academy and oversaw many weddings from very simple to very, very fancy and expensive. Since cadets come from all over the country as do their brides there are many regional and ethnic traditions that come into play when planning a wedding reception. I would say that it's about a 50/50 split on favors or no favors for the guests. I've seen favors as simple as a few Hershey's chocolate kisses wrapped up with tulle and ribbon to fancy silver picture frames from Tiffany's. I've also seen delicious-looking home-made Italian cookies packaged in personalized boxes, bottles of wine with personalized labels to commemorate the day and of course the traditional take-home boxed piece of cake (either bride's or groom's). I've also seen many "in lieu of..." cards instead of favors. However, there is no need to worry if you don't want this expense. Even at weddings where the cost was over $200 per plate for the reception many couples did not provide favors and I never heard a guest complain that there were none. It is true that favors were very often inadvertently left behind. The wait staff loved picking up those little boxes of chocolate at the end of the night! Whatever you decide, do it because you want to, not because you have to, and best wishes to both of you!